Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a device enabling management of the physical exertion of a human being or of an animal over a predetermined itinerary. Throughout the following, “subject” designates any human being or animal on which such a device is used in order to forecast at least one of his/her physiological parameters.
The user of such a device may be the subject himself/herself (commonly when the subject is a human being) or a person who is not the subject (the case of a human user who wishes to monitor the exertion of an animal).
In many situations it is advantageous to be able to assist the management, and in particular to monitor and forecast, the physical exertion of a subject.
A physical exertion is provided in numerous situations. For example, a subject in rehabilitation following a traumatism or an operation may have to perform physical exercises requiring only a moderate exertion. It is therefore advantageous to be able to assist the management and avert an exertion deemed too great for a subject undergoing rehabilitation. Conversely, situations where the physical exertion to be provided is at a high level, such as in the course of training or in the course of sport competitions, require a significant physical exertion that one may wish to monitor and/or optimise. In addition, the physical exertion may be constituted largely by stress, for example in the course of a flight in a glider or in the course of a motor race.
The organism of a subject regulates its physiological parameters to the utmost of its capabilities with the aim of protecting itself. Therefore, the variation of these physiological parameters and their evolution reflect the physiological and physical state of a subject. For example, the oxygen saturation of the blood is a very good indicator of the physical state of a subject.
The heart rate (in French, Fréquence Cardiaque (FC)) is another very reliable physiological parameter as regards the state of the organism of a subject. Thus a higher heart rate generally indicates a more advanced level of hypoxia.
Description of the Related Art
On this subject, we know the document “A dynamic heart rate model for training optimization in cycling (P83),” Ankang Le, Thomas Jaitner, Frank Tobias, Lothar Litz, in The Engineering of Sport 7, ed. Springer Paris, which describes a device enabling the rate of heartbeat of cyclists on exercise bikes, which impose a given power on the cyclist, to be collected and forecasted prior to a training session.
However, the subject of such a device is unable to move over a real itinerary which, by definition, is much more complex than any simulation imposed by an exercise bike.
Moreover, it is therefore impossible for the user of the device to make choices in real time about the pace of the subject, because he/she cannot regularly re-evaluate what the future exertions to be provided by the subject will be, and if the exertion that said subject is providing at a time t is compatible with the rest of an itinerary to be travelled.
There is therefore a need for a device that is capable not only of gathering, recording and displaying physiological parameters relating to a subject, be it animal or human, but also of forecasting them over at least a portion of a route remaining to be travelled over a predetermined itinerary, in particular as a function of the position of the subject over this itinerary.
Moreover, there is a need for such a device that is portable, so that a subject can take it with him/her over a real itinerary and can have at his/her disposal an aid for the management of his/her exertion at all points of his/her journey, in real time and autonomously.